What Makes Trea Turner so Good?

Trea Turner is known as the 23 year old speed demon for the Washington Nationals. He attended NC State during his college career, was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the first round of the 2014 draft, and then was traded to the Nationals in 2015.

In 2016 Trea Turner was outstanding. Turner hit .342/.370/.567 along with 13 home runs and 33 stolen bases in just 307 at bats.

Just how good are these numbers? Let’s dive in…

In 307 at bats he stole 33 bags which is a stolen base in 10.7% of his at bats. The league leader in stolen bases (Jonathon Villar) had a 10.5

In 2016 he hit .342 which would have been third in the league, just ahead of Jose Altuve.

In 2016 Trea Turner hit 13 home runs in 307 at bats which is about 4.2%.

In 2016 Carlos Gonzalez’s home run rate was as well 4.2%.

Not to mention Turner’ OPS was .937 in 2016

Who would that have finished in front of?

Arenado .932

Rizzo .928

Altuve .928

Betts .897

Turner also started games at CF, SS, and 2B which shows great versatility especially being able to move to the outfield like he had done last year.

So what does this lead to?

A 23 year old with…

Better stolen base/per AB than Villar

Better contact ability than Altuve

Even power to Carlos Gonzalez

– A higher OPS than Arenado, Betts, and Rizzo

He’s a player capable of not only playing both middle infield positions, but someone you could plug in to CF.

Pretty good, huh?

While some could say he was just a fluke, only time can tell, but for the mean time Trea Turner needs to be taken very seriously otherwise he will capitalize on it.